1985 Academy Awards® Winners and History Witness (1985) Actor: WILLIAM HURT in "Kiss of the Spider Woman", Harrison Ford in "Witness", James Garner in "Murphy's Romance", Jack Nicholson in "Prizzi's Honor", Jon Voight in "Runaway Train" Actress: GERALDINE PAGE in "The Trip to Bountiful", Anne Bancroft in "Agnes of God", Whoopi Goldberg in "The Color Purple", Jessica Lange in "Sweet Dreams", Meryl Streep in "Out of Africa" Supporting Actor: DON AMECHE in "Cocoon", Klaus Maria Brandauer in "Out of Africa", William Hickey in "Prizzi's Honor", Robert Loggia in "Jagged Edge", Eric Roberts in "Runaway Train" Supporting Actress: ANJELICA HUSTON in "Prizzi's Honor", Margaret Avery in "The Color Purple", Amy Madigan in "Twice in a Lifetime", Meg Tilly in "Agnes of God", Oprah Winfrey in "The Color Purple" Director: SYDNEY POLLACK for "Out of Africa", Hecter Babenco for "Kiss of the Spider Woman", John Huston

 for "Prizzi's Honor", Akira Kurosawa for "Ran", Peter Weir for "Witness" Sydney Pollack's grandly-spectacular, handsome romance spanning two decades, Out of Africa, was based by Kurt Luedtke on the life, works, and memoirs of Karen Blixen (a Danish writer who published under the name Isak Dinesen).

The romantic biopic had eleven Oscar nominations and captured all the major awards, seven in all - except in the acting categories (Best Picture, Best Director (Sydney Pollack), Best Screenplay Adaptation (Kurt Luedtke), Best Cinematography (David Watkins), Best Art/Set Direction, Best Sound, and Best Original Score). Another Best Picture nominee with eleven nominations was director Steven Spielberg's affecting drama, The Color Purple (Spielberg's first theatrical feature was the drama The Sugarland Express (1974) directed many years earlier) - the first PG-13 rated film to be nominated for Best Picture. With a largely black cast, it was an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a young black girl growing to maturity in rural 20th century Georgia. Five of Out of Africa's seven Oscars directly defeated The Color Purple's nominations. In fact, The Color Purple didn't win a single Oscar award.

[This 'un-achievement' tied the shutout record with The Turning Point (1977) - both films had the most nominations (11) without a single win.] The other three Best Picture nominees were: Australian director Peter Weir's first Hollywood film - a thriller/romance among the Amish, Witness (with eight nominations and two wins - Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing) Brazilian director Hector Babenco's first English-language film based upon Manuel Puig's novel - a tale of two prisoners confined together in a South American prison, the small-budget independent film Kiss of the Spider Woman (with four nominations and one win - for Best Actor) 79 year-old director John Huston's 40th film, the dark comedy about the Mafia, Prizzi's Honor (with eight nominations and one win - Best Supporting Actress). [Huston became the oldest person ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar with this nomination. He had won many years earlier as Best Director for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) .] Steven Spielberg was the only director of a Best Picture nominee who was not nominated for Best Director.

There was a tremendous lack of judgment in the Academy's humiliating treatment of Steven Spielberg as director. [It was the first time since 43 years earlier that Sam Wood, another director with a film with ten or more nominations - The Pride of the Yankees (1942) - didn't have a Best Director nomination.] Spielberg's Best Picture-nominated film had eleven nominations, but a nomination for Best Director was not one of them. [Spielberg had previously been nominated as Best Director in 1977, 1981, and 1982 - without a win - he wouldn't win until Schindler's List (1993) .] Spielberg's position in the nominees was taken by the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa for Ran (with four nominations - Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, and its sole win for Best Costume Design), an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, the historical epic of a tragic, 16th century Japanese warlord. [Kurosawa was later honored with a Special Oscar in 1989.] All ten of the Best Actor/Actress nominees were American-born - the first time in Oscar history.

In this year, it was also the second time in Academy history (the first was in 1972) that three of the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees in 1985 were black performers: Whoopi Goldberg as Best Actress for The Color Purple, and Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey as Best Supporting Actress for The Color Purple. But all of them lost in their categories. The Best Actor honor was won by William Hurt (with his first of three consecutive nominations) for his role as the flamboyant, homosexual Luis Molina, a South American hairdresser/romantic who creates imaginary film dreams, and is planted by the authorities in a prison to learn revolutionary secrets from fellow prisoner (Raoul Julia) in Kiss of the Spider Woman. [Note: Kiss of the Spider Woman was the first independent film to be nominated for Best Picture.

Hurt's win in the Best Actor category was the first time a performer won the award for playing a 'gay' person.] The other Best Actor nominees were: Harrison Ford (with his first nomination) as tough cop John Book taking refuge in an Amish community in the crime thriller Witness James Garner (with his first and sole nomination) as an Arizonian, small-town pharmacist - a widower who falls in love with Sally Field in director Martin Ritt's Murphy's Romance Jack Nicholson (with his eighth nomination) as thick-witted Mafia hit man Charley Partanna in Prizzi's Honor Jon Voight (with his third nomination) as escaped prison inmate Manny in the nail-biting prison-action thriller by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, Runaway Train In the Best Actress category, Geraldine Page (with her eighth nomination and first and sole win) won her long-awaited first Oscar for her role as elderly, hymn-singing widow/pensioner Mrs. Watts who leaves Houston and returns to her hometown of Bountiful for a last visit before her death in The Trip to Bountiful, a debut film for director Peter Masterson.

[Since 1953, Page had already been nominated three times for Best Actress and four times for Best Supporting Actress, and lost for some more impressive performances. With her long losing streak, she was the first person to win an acting Oscar on her eighth attempt after seven previously unsuccessful nominations. Her seven failed tries tied similar efforts of both Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.

Most people interpreted her Oscar win as a 'tribute' to her entire career.] The other four Best Actress nominees were: Anne Bancroft (with her fifth nomination) as Sister Miriam Ruth - a Quebec convent's mother superior in director Norman Jewison's Agnes of God Jessica Lange (with her fourth nomination) as country-western singer Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams; Lange lip-synched Cline's recordings, unlike Beverly D'Angelo who played Cline five years earlier in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) Meryl Streep (with her sixth nomination, and fourth nomination in the 80s) as Danish baronness Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen who marries and settles on an African coffee plantation in Out of Africa Whoopi Goldberg (in her first film) as the oppressed Celie in The Color Purple All of the nominees in the Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories were first-time nominees. The Best Supporting Actor award was a sentimental honor won by 77 year-old veteran actor Don Ameche as Art Selwyn - a rejuvenated, break-dancing, retirement home resident who is given the chance of immortality in director Ron Howard's light, science-fiction comedy Cocoon.

The other nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category were: Klaus Maria Brandauer as Streep's disinterested philandering husband - the Danish Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke in Out of Africa William Hickey as Don Corrado Prizzi in Prizzi's Honor Robert Loggia as Sam Ransom in the mystery/thriller Jagged Edge (the film's sole nomination) Eric Roberts as Jon Voight's vicious convict co-escapee Buck in Runaway Train The Best Supporting Actress award was presented to Anjelica Huston in the role of a Mafia assassin's (Jack Nicholson) scorned, but cunning and long-suffering girlfriend Maerose Prizzi in Prizzi's Honor. [As the director's daughter, Anjelica was the first person to be directed to an Oscar by her own father. John Huston had also directed his own father Walter to an Oscar win in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) . Anjelica was also the first Oscar winner whose father and grandfather (Walter Huston) were also Oscar winners.

And this remarkable feat made the Hustons the first family with three generations of Oscar winners - Huston became the only director to have directed both his father and daughter to Oscar victories.] Two of the other Best Supporting Actress nominees were African-American actresses and co-stars in their debut performances, in The Color Purple: Margaret Avery as jazz singer Shug Oprah Winfrey as Whoopi Goldberg's step-daughter Sofia The remaining two Best Supporting Actress nominees were Amy Madigan as Gene Hackman's daughter caught by her father's mid-life crisis in Bud Yorkin's Twice in a Lifetime (the film's sole nomination), and Meg Tilly as the childlike, beatific Sister Agnes in Agnes of God. The Honorary Oscar honoree was Paul Newman, "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." From 1958 to 1982, he had been nominated six times for Best Actor - and failed each time. Newman's directorial effort for Rachel, Rachel (1968) also earned four nominations (including Best Picture). He would only have to wait one more year to win his first Best Actor Oscar for The Color of Money (1986).

Oscar Snubs and Omissions: The unsafe, inventively-futuristic film from Terry Gilliam - Brazil (although nominated and unsuccessful for Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration awards) was missing from the nominations for Best Director and Best Picture (although the Los Angeles Film Critics Society awarded it those two distinctions). And writer/director Lawrence Kasdan's unique western Silverado, Nicolas Roeg's Insignificance, and writer/director/star Albert Brooks' Lost in America were conspicuously absent from major nomination categories. The Best Visual Effects Oscar award was won by Cocoon, but director Barry Levinson's nominated Young Sherlock Holmes should have won instead for its startling and superb CGI SFX - its sole nomination. The anthem Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds from The Breakfast Club was un-nominated for Best Original Song, as was writer/director John Hughes.

Akira Kurosawa's Ran (although it had four nominations and one win as noted above for Costume Design) was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Score, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, or Best Actor/Actress (for Tatsuya Nakadai as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji, or Mieko Harada as ruthless widowed warrior Lady Kaede). The following were un-nominated roles: Michael J.

Fox as time-traveling Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis' popular Back to the Future Danny Glover as brutal sharecropper "Mr." Albert Johnson and Adolph Caesar as his father "Old Mr." in The Color Purple Rosanna Arquette as bored housewife Roberta Glass trailing Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan Julie Hagerty as a spoiled, Irish-Jewish young woman unexpectedly ending up in an Israeli kibbutz in Goodbye, New York Laura Dern as a coming-of-age woman/child in Smooth Talk Miranda Richardson as executed murderer Ruth Ellis in Mike Newell's Dance With A Stranger Mikhail Baryshnikov as captured Soviet defector Nikolai "Kolya" Rodchenko and co-star Gregory Hines as exiled American expatriate Raymond Greenwood in Taylor Hackford's White Nights (with two nominations and one win for Lionel Richie's Best Song) Rutger Hauer as tortured knight Captain Etienne Navarre in Richard Donner's fantasy adventure Ladyhawke Kathleen Turner as mobster hit woman Irene Walker in Prizzi's Honor Cher as defiant, motorcycle-riding biker gang member, but caring mother Rusty Dennis for her disfigured son 'Rocky' (Eric Stoltz) in

 Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (with one successful nomination for Best Makeup) Theresa Russell as a Marilyn Monroe-like 'Actress' in Insignificance In director/writer Woody Allen's comedy-fantasy The Purple Rose of Cairo (with only one nomination, Best Original Screenplay), a take-off on Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr.

(1924), Mia Farrow was overlooked as unfulfilled waitress/dishwasher Cecilia, as was Jeff Daniels in a dual role as (1) the main fictional character of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" - a dashing explorer/archaeologist named "Tom Baxter", and as (2) Gil Shepherd - the real-life actor who played Tom on the screen. OSCARS GO TO 'OUT OF AFRICA' AND ITS DIRECTOR, SYDNEY POLLACK - NYTimes.com OSCARS GO TO 'OUT OF AFRICA' AND ITS DIRECTOR, SYDNEY POLLACK By ALJEAN HARMETZ, Special to the New York Times Published: March 25, 1986 HOLLYWOOD, March 24— ''Out of Africa,'' a stately epic about the Danish novelist Isak Dinesen's years on a coffee plantation in Kenya, swept its way to seven Oscars tonight at the 58th annual Academy Awards ceremonies - including best picture, director, and adapted screenplay. Sydney Pollack was the surprise winner as director of the movie. He won a second award as its producer.

The other major awards presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center were scattered among half a dozen movies. William Hurt took an Oscar as best actor for his performance as a jailed homosexual who spins lavish cinematic fantasies in ''The Kiss of the Spider Woman.'' Geraldine Page, a sentimental favorite who had been nominated seven times without winning, took home the golden statuette as best actress for her role as an elderly woman who wants to go home again, in ''The Trip to Bountiful.'' Steven Spielberg's ''Color Purple,'' which had been tied with ''Out of Africa'' for the most nominations - 11 - did not win a single award. For her role as a Mafia princess in John Huston's black comedy ''Prizzi's Honor,'' Anjelica Huston won the evening's first Oscar. Thirty-eight years ago, John Huston directed his father, Walter Huston, in a performance that won an Oscar as best supporting actor. The Oscar to his daughter was a bookend for the 79-year-old director's career.

After stopping to hug Jack Nicholson, her long-time housemate and her co-star in ''Prizzi's Honor,'' Miss Huston said, ''This means a lot to me since it comes from a role in which I was directed by my father. And I know it means a lot to him.'' A 50-Year Career Rewarded In addition to Miss Page, sentiment ran strongly for Don Ameche, who won the supporting-actor Oscar for his performance as an elderly man who is rejuvenated by aliens, in ''Cocoon.'' For a long 30 seconds, Mr. Ameche stared down bemusedly at the thousands of Academy members who were giving him a standing ovation. It was his first nomination in a career that began 50 years ago. ''You have given me, and I hope I have earned, your respect,'' he said. When Miss Page's name was announced, she was unable to get out of her seat for a long moment because of people crowding around her. She moved slowly to the stage amid a standing ovation that wouldn't stop, even when she tried to speak. ''Thank Horton Foote for all this,'' she said of the film's author.

''Mainly it's Horton!'' Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace shared the award for best original screenplay for ''Witness.'' Kurt Luedtke was honored for his adaptation of ''Out of Africa.'' The award for best foreign-language film went to ''The Official Story'' (Argentina), a drama about an upper-middle-class woman who begins to fear that her beloved adopted daughter is a child of someone murdered by the state. The award was presented by Norma Aleandro, the movie's star, who wept as she read the name of the winner. ''Say You, Say Me'' from ''White Nights,'' with music and lyrics by Lionel Richie, won the prize as best song. The award for original score was presented to John Barry for ''Out of Africa.'' Technical Awards to 'Africa' Among the technical awards, ''Cocoon'' won for visual effects, and ''Out of Africa'' received three statuettes: for sound, art direction and for David Watkins's cinematography, which re-created the dazzling vistas of Kenya in 1914. The sound effects editing award went to ''Back to the Future,'' the biggest commercial success of 1985.

Akira Kurosawa's ''Ran,'' with its stylized Japanese battle costumes, won for costume design. Audrey Hepburn, who gave the award to ''Ran's'' designer, Emi Wada, also got a standing ovation. The award for makeup went to ''Mask,'' for its creation of the lion face of a boy born with an incurable bone disease. The animated short film ''Anna and Bella,'' about two sisters who spend a boozy evening looking back at their lives through an old album of photographs, received its Oscar from Kermit the Frog and Scooter, two of Jim Henson's Muppets. The documentary feature award was won by ''Broken Rainbow,'' in which a federal relocation program pits Hopi and Navajo Indians against energy development. ''Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements,'' about an Air Force officer who became a medical missionary in El Salvador, was named best documentary short subject. The Oscar for live-action short subject went to ''Molly's Pilgrim,'' about an immigrant Russian girl's experiences in a New York City school. Honorary awards were given to the actor Paul Newman and the composer Alex North.

Charles ''Buddy'' Rogers, who co-starred in the first film to win an Academy Award as best picture of the year - ''Wings,'' in 1927 - was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his ''philanthropic commitment.'' 'Dedication to His Craft' Mr. Newman, who had been nominated six times as an actor - for his performances in ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' ''The Hustler,'' ''Hud,'' ''Cool Hand Luke,'' ''Absence of Malice'' and ''The Verdict'' - and once as a producer, for ''Rachel, Rachel,'' which was a 1968 best-picture nominee - was honored ''in recognition of his many memorable and compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft.'' Obviously referring to the academy's penchant for giving honorary awards to elderly and often seriously ill artists, Mr. Newman said, ''I'm especially grateful that this did not come wrapped as a gift certificate to Forest Lawn.'' Speaking via a television hookup in Chicago, where he is making a movie, Mr. Newman added that he hoped ''My best work is down the pike in front of me.'' Mr.

North had racked up 15 nominations without getting his hands on the statuette, The 74-year-old composer got his first two nominations in 1951, for ''Death of a Salesman'' and ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' and his 15th nomination in 1984 for ''Under the Volcano.'' His score for ''Prizzi's Honor'' was not nominated. Mr. North's citation reads: ''In recognition of his brilliant artistry in the creation of memorable music for motion pictures.'' The academy is divided into 14 branches, and each branch nominates for achievements in its own field. The 4,244 voting members of the academy also include 1,207 actors, 247 art directors-costume designers, 305 executives, 173 film editors, 243 musicians, 326 producers, 255 public-relations executives, 199 makers of short films, 284 sound editors, 367 writers and 300 members-at-large. All 4,244 are eligible to vote for the winners in most categories.

In the documentary, short film and foreign-language categories, no member is allowed to vote unless he certifies that he has seen all five nominees. Excluding foreign-language and documentary films, 222 feature-length films were eligible for nomination. To be eligible, a movie had to play at theaters in the Los Angeles area for seven consecutive days starting no later than Dec. 31, 1985. Photo of Charles Rogers, recepient of Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (UPI); Photos of actor Don Ameche, and costume designer Emi Wada (AP;Agence France-Presse) Oscar winners: The 10 worst best pictures Oscar winners: The 10 worst best pictures Life isn't fair and neither are the Oscars, as evidenced by these 10 terrible best-picture winners. Post to Facebook Oscar winners: The 10 worst best pictures Life isn't fair and neither are the Oscars, as evidenced by these 10 terrible best-picture winners. Check out this story on azcentral.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

100 Oscar winners: The 10 worst best pictures Newsflash: The Oscars don't matter. Oh, the golden guy glitters nicely on the mantle, and it's fun when pretty people we like give wacky acceptance speeches or wear swan dresses. But in terms of serving as actual tastemakers who know a great movie from a hole in the ground, well, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have some work to do. The academy gets more wrong than they do right. Case in point, here are some people who've never won an Oscar (that wasn't honorary): Stanley Kubrick, Peter O'Toole, Bill Murray, Peter Sellers, Alfred Hitchcock. You know who did win an Oscar? Cuba Gooding Jr. Life isn't fair and neither are the Oscars, as evidenced by these 10 terrible best-picture winners. - Barbara VanDenburgh/The Republic Sponsored by Two Cities Films 10. 'Hamlet' (1948, not rated) Laurence Olivier is among acting's greats, especially when it comes to Shakespeare, so seeing him play the tortured Dane is not without its pleasures.

But "Hamlet" brought nothing interesting to the table aside from Olivier's talents: The direction is stiff and overly stagey, and the text of the play altered and seriously abridged. And just as insulting as editing the Bard is that it beat out the gorgeous and provocative "The Red Shoes," an experimental master class of dance and Technicolor, and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" ("Badges? We ain't got no badges!"). It was a foolish year for the academy to retreat to the comforts of tradition. 10. 'Hamlet' (1948, not rated) Universal Pictures 9.

'Shakespeare in Love' (1998, rated R) This historically revisionist romance is a charming enough trifle, imagining a secret torrid love affair between a pretty-boy Shakespeare (in eyeliner!) and the betrothed Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he pens "Romeo and Juliet." A silly Shakespeare for Dummies romance, it has enough charm to make for a fine matinee, but to award it with best picture in a year that saw the release of two of our finest films on World War II - "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" - is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Something the academy must have suspected, as Steven Spielberg was the one who walked away with the best-director Oscar. 9. 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998, rated R) Paramount Pictures 8. 'Forrest Gump' (1994, rated PG-13) These are fighting words, but it has to be said: "Forrest Gump" is a deeply wrongheaded film that never should have won best picture and doesn't deserve its continued acclaim and popularity, if only for introducing Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. to the world.

An emotionally manipulative slice of American cornball, "Gump" presents happy ignorance as the key to living a good life as it guides its dimwit protagonist through major historical events, turning complex American history into a greatest-hits pop compilation. It also punishes a sexually abused woman with AIDS for having the temerity not to have chosen Forrest as a love interest sooner. One can argue with that interpretation, but you can't argue that it was better than "Pulp Fiction," a narratively innovative film that left an even bigger pop-culture footprint. 8. 'Forrest Gump' (1994, rated PG-13) Universal Pictures 7. 'Out of Africa' (1985, rated PG) No movie starring Meryl Streep is completely bereft of joy, and director Sydney Pollack is no slouch. But something went grievously wrong in the execution of this long, ponderous adaptation of Danish writer Isak Dinesen's account of her years in Africa. The landscape is as stunning as the pacing is glacial, and Robert Redford couldn't have been more miscast as the love interest.

The film bested "The Color Purple" and "Witness," both of which have aged far better. 7. 'Out of Africa' (1985, rated PG) Warner Bros. Pictures 6. 'Gigi' (1958, not rated) The most sexist of the best-picture winners? Possibly. This sumptuous-looking Vincente Minnelli film is one of the last of the celebrated MGM musicals, so it's a shame that it opens with a lecherous old Frenchman leering at frolicking children while singing "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" for "they grow up in the most delightful way." That's gross enough, but then "Gigi" doubles down with a story about a teenage girl being groomed to be the perfect courtesan so she can land a big catch. Not even nominated? Hitchcock's "Vertigo," a brilliant film that actually acknowledges the predatory creepiness of molding a woman into a certain image for a man's pleasure ("Vertigo" also tops the "Sight & Sound" poll for greatest film of all time). 6. 'Gigi' (1958, not rated) Paramount Pictures 5.

'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952, not rated) What fun is a trip to the circus if you can't taste the cotton candy? Gasp in unison at the precarious trapeze artist? Complain about the elephant smell? No fun whatsoever, suggests this lavish bore of a 2½-hour-long Cecil B. DeMille production, all bloated showmanship and no actual thrills. And that it beat out the lean and mean "High Noon" and John Ford's romantic "The Quiet Man" makes it the least fun trip to the circus ever. 5. 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952, not rated) Michael Todd Co. 4. 'Around the World in Eighty Days' (1956, rated G) If you're going to go for sweeping spectacles and overlong epics, "Giant," "The King and I" and "The Ten Commandments" are all agreeable choices - and they all were nominated in 1956.

Instead, the academy inexplicably bypassed those worthier films and awarded gold to this ambling Jules Verne adaptation about a 19th-century English gentleman (David Niven) who accepts a wager to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. It's a three-hour-long tedious slog of a prim travelogue. Not even nominated? John Ford's "The Searchers," a film on the short list for all-time greatest Western. 4. 'Around the World in Eighty Days' (1956, rated G) Orion Pictures 3. 'Dances With Wolves' (1990, rated PG-13) Kevin Costner's feathered mullet alone is a testament to how poorly his White Savior epic is aging. "Dances With Wolves" has become a sort of punch line for the sort of overblown vanity project the academy swoons for. Costner won best-directing and best-picture Oscars for this three-hour-long paean to the frontier, where his character, Lt. John J. Dunbar, befriends wolves and Native Americans at a remote Army outpost.

It's a well-intentioned slog that would be easier to forgive if it hadn't pulled the rug out from under Martin Scorsese and "Goodfellas," arguably his greatest masterpiece. 3. 'Dances With Wolves' (1990, rated PG-13) Lionsgate 2. 'Crash' (2005, rated R) Perhaps the most damning criticism of Paul Haggis' woefully misguided treatise on modern American race relations comes from Haggis himself. In "Going Clear," Lawrence Wright's celebrated Scientology expose, the Toronto Film Festival premiere of the film is presented thusly: "As he watched the movie, Haggis was appalled. Everything that was wrong was glaringly apparent on the huge screen. He sat glumly waiting for it to end, calculating what could be salvaged." Of course, the courage of your artistic convictions has the tendency to fly out the window when your film is greeted with a standing ovation, even one it doesn't deserve. "Crash" instantly went from dark-horse upset, trumping the vastly superior and nuanced "Brokeback Mountain," to reviled footnote in Oscar history. 2.

'Crash' (2005, rated R) Warner Bros. Pictures 1. 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1989, rated PG) This is far from the worst film on the list. It has, at least, the wisdom not to carry on for three hours, and Jessica Tandy was not undeserving of her best-actress Oscar for playing a demanding Jewish woman who learns a lesson about race after forming a bond with her Black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman). It's not even the most patronizing and facile of the race films made by White directors on the list (see: "Crash"). What makes "Driving Miss Daisy's" win so intolerable is that it was released the same year as "Do the Right Thing," as good a movie on American race relations as has ever been made, and neither it nor director Spike Lee were nominated. The academy awarded what was comfortable, not what was challenging, and it's as good an argument exists for the Oscars' authoritative irrelevancy. 1. 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1989, rated PG) Barbara VanDenburgh , The Republic | azcentral.com Published 5:15 p.m. MT Feb.

17, 2015 | Updated 5:32 p.m. MT Feb. 16, 2016 Meryl Streep and Robert Redford starred in "Out of Africa," based on the novel by Isak Dinesen. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures) Newsflash: The Oscars don't matter. Oh, the golden guy glitters nicely on the mantel, and it's fun when pretty people we like give wacky acceptance speeches or wear swan dresses. But in terms of serving as actual tastemakers who know a great movie from a hole in the ground, well, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have some work to do. The academy gets more wrong than they do right. Case in point, here are some people who've never won an Oscar (that wasn't honorary): Stanley Kubrick, Peter O'Toole, Bill Murray, Peter Sellers, Alfred Hitchcock. You know who did win an Oscar? Cuba Gooding Jr. Life isn't fair and neither are the Oscars, as evidenced by these 10 terrible best-picture winners. OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Lots of snubs to go around (as ever) 10.

'Hamlet' (1948, not rated) Laurence Olivier is among acting's greats, especially when it comes to Shakespeare, so seeing him play the tortured Dane is not without its pleasures. But "Hamlet" brought nothing interesting to the table aside from Olivier's talents: The direction is stiff and overly stagey, and the text of the play altered and seriously abridged. And just as insulting as editing the Bard is that it beat out the gorgeous and provocative "The Red Shoes," an experimental master class of dance and Technicolor, and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" ("Badges? We ain't got no badges!"). It was a foolish year for the academy to retreat to the comforts of tradition. 9.

'Shakespeare in Love' (1998, rated R) This historically revisionist romance is a charming enough trifle, imagining a secret torrid love affair between a pretty-boy Shakespeare (in eyeliner!) and the betrothed Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he pens "Romeo and Juliet." A silly Shakespeare for Dummies romance, it has enough charm to make for a fine matinee, but to award it with best picture in a year that saw the release of two of our finest films on World War II — "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" — is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Something the academy must have suspected, as Steven Spielberg was the one who walked away with the best-director Oscar. 8. 'Forrest Gump' (1994, rated PG-13) (Photo: Philip Carus/ABC) These are fighting words, but it has to be said: "Forrest Gump" is a deeply wrongheaded film that never should have won best picture and doesn't deserve its continued acclaim and popularity, if only for introducing Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. to the world.

An emotionally manipulative slice of American cornball, "Gump" presents happy ignorance as the key to living a good life as it guides its dimwit protagonist through major historical events, turning complex American history into a greatest-hits pop compilation. It also punishes a sexually abused woman with AIDS for having the temerity not to have chosen Forrest as a love interest sooner. One can argue with that interpretation, but you can't argue that it was better than "Pulp Fiction," a narratively innovative film that left an even bigger pop-culture footprint. 7. 'Out of Africa' (1985, rated PG) No movie starring Meryl Streep is completely bereft of joy, and director Sydney Pollack is no slouch. But something went grievously wrong in the execution of this long, ponderous adaptation of Danish writer Isak Dinesen's account of her years in Africa. The landscape is as stunning as the pacing is glacial, and Robert Redford couldn't have been more miscast as the love interest. The film bested "The Color Purple" and "Witness," both of which have aged far better. 7 worst best-actress Oscar winners 6.

'Gigi' (1958, not rated) The most sexist of the best-picture winners? Possibly. This sumptuous-looking Vincente Minnelli film is one of the last of the celebrated MGM musicals, so it's a shame that it opens with a lecherous old Frenchman leering at frolicking children while singing "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" for "they grow up in the most delightful way." That's gross enough, but then "Gigi" doubles down with a story about a teenage girl being groomed to be the perfect courtesan so she can land a big catch. Not even nominated? Hitchcock's "Vertigo," a brilliant film that actually acknowledges the predatory creepiness of molding a woman into a certain image for a man's pleasure ("Vertigo" also tops the "Sight & Sound" poll for greatest film of all time). 5. 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952, not rated) What fun is a trip to the circus if you can't taste the cotton candy? Gasp in unison at the precarious trapeze artist? Complain about the elephant smell?

No fun whatsoever, suggests this lavish bore of a 2½-hour-long Cecil B. DeMille production, all bloated showmanship and no actual thrills. And that it beat out the lean and mean "High Noon" and John Ford's romantic "The Quiet Man" makes it the least fun trip to the circus ever. 4. 'Around the World in Eighty Days' (1956, rated G) (Photo: Michael Todd Co.) If you're going to go for sweeping spectacles and overlong epics, "Giant," "The King and I" and "The Ten Commandments" are all agreeable choices — and they all were nominated in 1956. Instead, the academy inexplicably bypassed those worthier films and awarded gold to this ambling Jules Verne adaptation about a 19th-century English gentleman (David Niven) who accepts a wager to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. It's a three-hour-long tedious slog of a prim travelogue. Not even nominated? John Ford's "The Searchers," a film on the short list for all-time greatest Western. 3.

'Dances With Wolves' (1990, rated PG-13) Kevin Costner's feathered mullet alone is a testament to how poorly his White Savior epic is aging. "Dances With Wolves" has become a sort of punch line for the sort of overblown vanity project the academy swoons for. Costner won best-directing and best-picture Oscars for this three-hour-long paean to the frontier, where his character, Lt. John J. Dunbar, befriends wolves and Native Americans at a remote Army outpost. It's a well-intentioned slog that would be easier to forgive if it hadn't pulled the rug out from under Martin Scorsese and "Goodfellas," arguably his greatest masterpiece. 2. 'Crash' (2005, rated R) Perhaps the most damning criticism of Paul Haggis' woefully misguided treatise on modern American race relations comes from Haggis himself. In "Going Clear," Lawrence Wright's celebrated Scientology expose, the Toronto Film Festival premiere of the film is presented thusly: "As he watched the movie, Haggis was appalled. Everything that was wrong was glaringly apparent on the huge screen.

He sat glumly waiting for it to end, calculating what could be salvaged." Of course, the courage of your artistic convictions has the tendency to fly out the window when your film is greeted with a standing ovation, even one it doesn't deserve. "Crash" instantly went from dark-horse upset, trumping the vastly superior and nuanced "Brokeback Mountain," to reviled footnote in Oscar history. 7 worst best-actor Oscar winners of all time 1. 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1989, rated PG) This is far from the worst film on the list. It has, at least, the wisdom not to carry on for three hours, and Jessica Tandy was not undeserving of her best-actress Oscar for playing a demanding Jewish woman who learns a lesson about race after forming a bond with her Black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman). It's not even the most patronizing and facile of the race films made by White directors on the list (see: "Crash").

What makes "Driving Miss Daisy's" win so intolerable is that it was released the same year as "Do the Right Thing," as good a movie on American race relations as has ever been made, and neither it nor director Spike Lee were nominated. The academy awarded what was comfortable, not what was challenging, and it's as good an argument exists for the Oscars' authoritative irrelevancy. 540 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 100 COMMENTEMAILMORE Read or Share this story:

Question: Who won the Best Director Oscar for the film 'Out of Africa'?
Answer: SYDNEY POLLACK